Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v2.djvu/31



NASMUCH as the instantaneous flight

Had scattered them asunder o'er the plain,

Turned to the mountain whither reason spurs us,

I pressed me close unto my faithful comrade,

And how without him had I kept my course?

Who would have led me up along the mountain?

He seemed to me within himself remorseful;

O noble conscience, and without a stain,

How sharp a sting is trivial fault to thee!

After his feet had laid aside the haste

Which mars the dignity of every act,

My mind, that hitherto had been restrained,

Let loose its faculties as if delighted,

And I my sight directed to the hill

That highest tow'rds the heaven uplifts itself.

The sun, that in our rear was flaming red,

Was broken in front of me into the figure

Which had in me the stoppage of its rays;